MIT Demonstrates Robotic Gardening Techniques

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created a demonstration agri-robot in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory on the school's Cambridge campus. The $3,000 robots can provide water, gather the harvest and provide pollination to cherry tomato plants.

Using a base similar to the Roomba vacuum, the small robots are networked to the plants. If the plants signal that they need water, the robots sprinkle them from a water pump. If a tomato ripens, the machines pluck the fruit with mechanical arms.